PERCEPTION OF CRIMINALS: WHAT STEREOTYPES HOLD FUTURE LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS?

The main reasons for why stereotypes of police officers about criminals are dangerous and affecting the legal system are: firstly, having stereotypes and misconceptions about typical criminals is damaging witness's ability to correctly identify and/or remember the offender’s features; secondly, stereotypes determine the peculiarities of interrogations; thirdly having stereotypes hinders the identification of individuals who actually commit crimes. 270 university students of Law and Police Activity program participated in the study and gave their opinion on the portrait and likely activities of a potential perpetrator. The Criminal Stereotype Questionnaire-Revised (Sparks MacLin, 2011) was used to evaluate students’ judgment concerning the potential perpetrator’s socially desirable/undesirable personality traits, early years of family life history and childhood and adolescence activities. The results of this study revealed that future law and public security officers refer to delinquent activities during childhood and adolescence as well to adverse parental family life circumstances when predicting criminal behavior rather than personality traits. Furthermore, they have some preconceptions about gender, race and criminal behavior in advance.

Do Green Spaces Matter? the Associations between Parenting Stress, Child Mental Health Problems and Green Spaces

AbstractParenting stress is among the contextual factors that have been subject to vigorous research in terms of its effect on parenting behaviors and on child development. There is convincing evidence linking parenting stress related to reports of child behavioral and emotional problems, adjustment difficulties, and internalizing or externalizing problems (Abidin, 1995; Berllinger, 1994; Haskett et al., 2006; Bayer et al., 2006; Costa et al., 2006; Ashfort et al., 2008; Crnic et al., 2005). On the other hand, green spaces are associated with better child mental health (Strife et al., 2009; Louv, 2005). The purpose of this study was to examine the associations between parenting stress, children mental health and green spaces. Methods. Data were obtained from Kaunas cohort study (Kaunas KANC, Lithuania). Distance to natural water pond and green spaces was based on spatial land cover data sets for Kaunas city which were obtained from the municipality and were processed using ArcGIS 10 software. 645 women filled in Simplified version of Parenting Stress index – short form (S – PSI/SF, Abidin, 1995; Yeh et al., 2001), Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire Lithuanian version (SDQ, Gintilienė et al., 2004). We used regression analysis to examine a model of these associations. Findings and Results. The linear regression analysis showed that parenting stress was significantly predicted by the distance to natural water pond, child mental health problems, and child physical health. The best model of associations was when all predictors were included. However, the distance to green spaces was not a significant predictor. Conclusions and recommendations. We conclude that not only child mental health problems or physical health matter in predicting parenting stress, but the distance to natural water pond such as river is important factor too. Our recommendation is in other research to take a deeper look in these associations

Impact of Psychosocial Environment on Young Children’s Emotional and Behavioral Difficulties

Objective: The impact of maternal psychosocial stress on young children’s mental difficulties is unclear. This study investigated the joint effects of the socioeconomic status and parent-child relationships on emotional and behavioral difficulties in preschool children. Methods: The case-control study included 1416 mothers and their 4–6 year-old children pairs, living in Kaunas city, Lithuania. The parent-child relationships were measured using the Parent-Child Dysfunctional Interaction subscale. Children’s mental health difficulties were assessed by the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. We used logistic regression models to indicate the strength of the associations. Results: Lower socioeconomic status women more often than higher ones reported pathological mother-child relations. Low education level was associated with statistically significant increase adjusted odds ratios for emotional symptoms and total behavioral difficulties. With reference to the group of better-educated mothers and normal mother-child relations, low education and pathological mother-child relations statistically significantly increased the risk of total difficulties in 4–6 year-old children; the adjusted odds ratios were 2.45; 95% CI 1.51–3.99. Conclusions: Pathological mother-child relations strengthened the effect of lower education on the increased risk of emotional and behavioral difficulties in preschool-age children. Measures oriented towards health behavior and psychosocial difficulties management may decrease children’s emotional and behavioral difficulties

Impact of residential greenness on preschool children's emotional and behavioral problems

This study investigated the effects of the proximity to city parks and the influence of residential greenness on children’s emotional and behavioral problems. This cross-sectional study included 1,468 mothers of children (ages 4 to 6) who were residents of the city of Kaunas, Lithuania. The mothers and their children were enrolled in the FP7 PHENOTYPE project study. The mothers reported on their parenting stress and their children’s mental health. Residential greenness was characterized as an average of the satellite-derived normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) in a 300 m buffer around each home address, and the proximity to city parks was defined as the distance from the subject’s residence to the nearest park. Linear regression models were used to investigate the association among the residence distances from city parks, greenness and children’s mental health problems. Farther residential distance from city parks was associated with worse mental health (except for the emotional problems subscale) in children whose mothers had a lower education level. More residential greenness was associated with worse mental health (more conditional problems and less prosocial behavior) in children whose mothers had a higher education level. These relationships have important implications for the prevention of emotional and behavioral problems in children

Impact of Residential Greenness on Preschool Children’s Emotional and Behavioral Problems

This study investigated the effects of the proximity to city parks and the influence of residential greenness on children’s emotional and behavioral problems. This cross-sectional study included 1,468 mothers of children (ages 4 to 6) who were residents of the city of Kaunas, Lithuania. The mothers and their children were enrolled in the FP7 PHENOTYPE project study. The mothers reported on their parenting stress and their children’s mental health. Residential greenness was characterized as an average of the satellite-derived normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) in a 300 m buffer around each home address, and the proximity to city parks was defined as the distance from the subject’s residence to the nearest park. Linear regression models were used to investigate the association among the residence distances from city parks, greenness and children’s mental health problems. Farther residential distance from city parks was associated with worse mental health (except for the emotional problems subscale) in children whose mothers had a lower education level. More residential greenness was associated with worse mental health (more conditional problems and less prosocial behavior) in children whose mothers had a higher education level. These relationships have important implications for the prevention of emotional and behavioral problems in children

Visiting green space is associated with mental health and vitality: A cross-sectional study in four european cities

Many epidemiological studies have found that people living in environments with more green space report better physical and mental health than those with less green space. However, the association between visits to green space and mental health has seldom been studied. The current study explored the associations between time spent in green spaces by purposeful visits and perceived mental health and vitality in four different European cities, and to what extent gender, age, level of education, attitude towards nature and childhood nature experience moderate these associations. Data was gathered using a questionnaire administered in four European cities (total n=3748). Multilevel analyses showed significant positive associations between time spent visiting green spaces and mental health and vitality in the pooled data, as well as across the four cities. Significant effect modification was found for level of education and childhood nature experience. The findings confirm the hypothesis that more time spent in green space is associated with higher scores on mental health and vitality scales, independent of cultural and climatic context

Visiting green space is associated with mental health and vitality: A cross-sectional study in four european cities

Many epidemiological studies have found that people living in environments with more green space report better physical and mental health than those with less green space. However, the association between visits to green space and mental health has seldom been studied. The current study explored the associations between time spent in green spaces by purposeful visits and perceived mental health and vitality in four different European cities, and to what extent gender, age, level of education, attitude towards nature and childhood nature experience moderate these associations. Data was gathered using a questionnaire administered in four European cities (total n=3748). Multilevel analyses showed significant positive associations between time spent visiting green spaces and mental health and vitality in the pooled data, as well as across the four cities. Significant effect modification was found for level of education and childhood nature experience. The findings confirm the hypothesis that more time spent in green space is associated with higher scores on mental health and vitality scales, independent of cultural and climatic context